Chapter Text
“Whatever anomaly you thought was out here Stark, is gone, if it ever was here.” Leaning forward in his chair, Loki pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
“Huh, my sensors have never been wrong before.” Tony’s voice crackled through the responder.
“I’m telling you there isn’t anything out here.” Loki hissed into the microphone again.
“You win some you lose some I guess, bring her on home, Reindeer games.” Flicking off the switch, Loki rolled his eyes at the nickname. He’d always found Stark’s pension for absurd names taxing. Turning towards the window of the shuttle Loki took a moment to observe as stars and meteors whirred past them through the expanse of space. Flipping a switch, Loki placed the craft on autopilot and leaned back in his chair. and Tap, tap. Loki closed his eyes and shifted in his seat. Tap, tap.
“Can you please stop.” Loki sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Turning in your seat you narrowed your eyes at him.
“Stop what?” Tap, tap. Loki’s eyes drifted to the pen in your hand.
“That incessant clicking.” Raising a brow, you rubbed the top of the pen and gave him a sly grin.
“Does it bother you, Loki?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Shrugging your shoulders, you turned back towards the monitor in front of you. Loki leaned back in his chair and regarded you suspiciously. As the seconds ticked by, and you did nothing more than reach for one of the tablets, Loki closed his eyes and relished the silence. Tap, tap.
“Honestly, Y/N.” Loki leapt from his chair and towered over you. “Is it absolutely necessary for you to make that awful noise.” You slowly placed down your pen and folded your arms. Leaning forward in your chair, you came nose to nose with Loki and challenged his glower with an equally scathing look of your own.
“Maybe.” It had been like this ever since the two had met. You couldn’t recall a single time that you’d seen eye to eye or agreed on anything. Raising a brow, you took in his measure and smirked. A muscle twitched in his jaw, and fire flashed in his eyes. Yes, you’d been at each other like cats and dogs since the beginning, and as far as you were concerned, it could stay like that.
“You know what you are, Y/N?” Loki eased back, folding his arms. You felt your confidence waiver as you watched his features go bland. Though his face remained impassive, it was the spark in his eyes that brought you to your feet in challenge.
“What, Loki?” The pair were so lost in your irritation that youfailed to notice a blip on the screen.
“A shrew.” He whispered leaning closer. Your jaw dropped and you took a step back.
“I’m sorry, did you just call me a shrew?!
“If the shrew fits.” Loki grinned down at you. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Placing a hand over his heart, he shook his head before looking back up at you slowly. “I do believe the expression goes, ‘if the shoe fits.” Folding your arms, you barked out a laugh.
“Oh, yeah, well, Loki, you know what you are?”
“I’m dying to know.” Loki chuckled in amusement. Stepping closer so you were chest to chest, you glanced down at where your arms almost touched and leaned your head back and narrowed your eyes until they were practically slits. Leaning forward, he all but brushed your nose with his. “I’m waiting, darling.” A hitching sound in your throat drew his attention from your eyes to your lips. He’d never noticed how soft they looked. He wondered how they might feel against his…
“You’re a pain in my-“A piercing whistle split the air around you, drawing you out of your little trance. The shuttle began violently shaking, and you locked eyes with Loki just before the lights flickered out. Taking in your frantic expression, Loki reached out towards you.
“Y/N, take my hand!” Stretching out his hand, he shouted over the rattling sound of something pelting the hull of the shuttle. Your eyes flickered towards the ceiling before locking back on Loki. He stood with his hand outstretched, face firmed into a reassuring expression. Feeling the shuttle lurch sharply to the left, you blindly fished for his hand. A strong grip enfolded your hand just as the shuttle lurched to the right, sending you straight into the admittedly firm form of your cabin mate. You’d hardly had time to think about the warm arms that were wrapped around you before the cabin was engulfed in a bright light.
Loki tensed, wrapping his arms more tightly about you. Burying your face in his shoulder, you wrapped your own arms about his waist and clung to him. The light seemed to be growing brighter, and as it brightened, a strange sensation flowed through your body. Peeling your face away from his shirt, you looked into Loki’s eyes to see your own panic mirrored in his.
“Did you,” He nodded wordlessly. With a final rattle, the bright light dissipated, and the shuttle came violently to a stop. It wasn’t until the lights began to flicker back on and the alarms stopped that either of you realized that you were still wrapped around each other. Jumping apart, each of you attempted to correct your appearances. Turning away, you fiddled with the buttons on your shirt, all the while keenly aware of Loki’s eyes on you.
“Are you alright, Y/N?” His voice was laced with concern.
“Fine.” Clearing your throat, you rested a hand on the back of your chair and began examining the monitors. Still sensing that he hadn’t taken his eyes off you, tentatively you turned and looked at him over your shoulder. A lump caught in your throat at the blank look on his face. “Are you fine?”
“Perfectly.” His eyes met yours again. Something new flickered in his eyes, and while you weren’t exactly sure what it was, it started something flickering in your stomach, and you didn’t like that.
“Don’t look at me like that.” That might have come out more sharply than you’d intended. Wincing, you turned away to look back at the monitors.
“Look at you like what?”
“Never mind, Loki.” Leaning over the back of the chair, you squinted at something blipping on the screen.
“I’ll not be brushed off like an insect, Y/N.” Loki hissed, wrapping his fingers around your arm and spinning you so that you were once again nose to nose. “Like what?” Narrowing your eyes, you glanced at his grip on your arm and jerked free of him.
“Loki? Y/N? Are you there?” Turning away again, you fumbled for the transmitter microphone.
“Tony, we’re here.” A relieved sigh could be heard from the other side.
“Thank God, are you alright?” Glancing over your shoulder you noticed Loki had taken up his position at the controls.
“Yeah, we should be back in a couple of hours.” Another sigh.
“See you then.” Flipping the switch, you leaned back in your chair and swiveled to look at Loki.
“Loki,” Holding up a hand he turned towards you.
“I am too exhausted for anymore of your prattle.”
“My prattle? What is that supposed to mean, Loki.”
“Y/N.” Ignoring the warning note in his voice, you rose from your chair, and along with you rose your voice.
“No, you know what, you’ve been on my case for months now.” Rushing forward you stopped short before him and jabbed a finger in his face. “What’s your problem, Odinson.” Loki looked cooly from your finger to your firey expression.
“Agent L/N, right now my problem is you and your soul sucking attempts at an argument.” Now it was his turn to rise from his seat. Taking a step forward, he pushed you back with his form looming menacingly over yours. Retreating you dropped into your chair. “Now, as to your problem, Agent L/N,” Pausing, Loki leaned forward resting his arm on the back of your chair.
“My problem?” You blinked incredulously, tensing as he brought his face centimeters from yours. The dark grin that crossed his face did nothing to ease your worries.
“Your problem, Agent,” You bristled when he brought his thumb to graze over your bottom lip. Watching the motion of his finger’s path, Loki continued. “Is that you clearly haven’t, shall we say, had your rice cooked in a while.” Pulling back, he gave you a triumphant smile. Flexing your jaw, you felt your face go florid.
“Loki Odinson are you suggesting that my problem is,” Sputtering, you couldn’t finish the sentiment.
“That you need a good romp in the sheets, darling, but as I said, that’s your problem.” Folding his arms, Loki shrugged and grinned again. Jumping from your seat you met him toe to toe and crossed your arms.
“And I suppose you think you’re the answer to my problem?” Loki’s eyes danced with amusement as he leaned towards you.
“Darling, I would dance for our colleagues in the nude while singing bawdy tavern songs before I would put my cock in you.”
“Why I never,” You sputtered.
“That’s obvious.” After several attempts to open and close you mouth with no sound coming out, you huffed and stomped back to your seat. Thankfully the next two hours passed with no more words exchanged between you. As soon as your shuttle landed, you stormed through the doors without a second look at Loki.
“Y/N!” You tensed before being lifted off the ground into a back breaking hug by Thor.
“Thor.” Gasping for air, you tapped several times on your friend’s arm. Quickly he placed you on the ground but didn’t completely release you.
“Duchess, glad to see you made it back in one piece.” Tony walked towards the shuttle, glancing up at you from his tablet.
“Glad to be back in one piece.” Glancing towards the shuttle you noticed Loki exiting and quickly averted your gaze.
“Once you two get cleared by Bruce, we’ll need to go over what happened up there.” Against your will, your eyes flickered back to Loki only to find his already trained on you.
“I’d like for those interviews to be separate if that’s all the same to you, Tony.” You gave Loki a final scathing look before turning back to Tony. Furrowing his brows, he tucked the tablet under his arm and hooked a hand into his pants pocket.
“Everything okay?” Again you glared at Loki.
“Ask him.” Turning you started towards the lab, Thor hot on you trail.
“Everything looks fine.” Bruce unwound the pressure cuff from your arm.
“The ‘zing’ I felt when the bright light flashed through the cabin?” You paused from swinging your legs over the edge of the med bed and cocked your head to the side. Folding the pressure cuff, Bruce stopped to look up at you.
“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but if you develop new symptoms, come back to see me, okay?” Nodding your head, you gave him a warm smile.
“So I’m gonna live, doc?” Bruce chuckled.
“I’m afraid so, Y/N.” Groaning playfully, you swung off the side of the med bed, and as your feet hit the floor, Loki came strolling into the lab. Bristling, you diverted your attention back towards Bruce.
“Thanks, Bruce.”
“Of course, Y/N.” He’d turned his attention back to writing something on a clipboard. Averting your eyes, you started to pass Loki when you were overcome with a wave of lightheadedness.
“Careful, Y/N.” Loki whispered, reaching out to steady you with a hand on your arm. Narrowing your eyes up at him, you jerked away from his touch and staggered.
“You stay away from me, Odinson, and I’ll stay away from you.” Gritting your teeth, you pressed a hand to your head and glared at him.
"Fine by me." He hissed, clenching his fist by his side. Loki watched as you attempted to march out of the lab on unstable legs.
“By the Norns, Loki, what did you do to vex her so?” Thor broke the silence, sliding up behind his brother.
“It’s rude to eavesdrop, Thor.” Loki folded his arms and kept a concerned eye trained on your retreating form as the lab doors flapped shut.